Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 25:3
He may receive no more than forty lashes, lest your brother be beaten any more than that and be degraded in your sight.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the assembled Israelites on the plains of Moab, delivering judicial statutes to govern their conduct before entering the Promised Land.
The words — אַרְבָּעִ֥ים ('ar.ba.'Im) means forty, and יֹסִ֑יף (yo.Sif) means he will increase, together establishing a fixed numerical cap on punishment.
The thread — The concern over preventing degradation in the sight of others connects to Job 18:3, James 2:2, and Luke 15:30.
Why it lands — The text states a strict boundary on judicial flogging to stop excessive beating, and it requires readers to enforce that limit to preserve the dignity of the punished individual.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
Cross-references
- Job 18:3 Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight?
- James 2:2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in.
- Luke 15:30 But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
- Luke 18:9 To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable:
- 2 Corinthians 11:24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.